Lay All At The Start Accumulators

This Guide Explains How To Profit Using The Lay At Start Accumulators Method

Method Summary

In this method, we place a lay bet on each of the teams in our accumulator.

So for a £25 accumulator with 5 teams, we are placing 5 x £25 lay bets, one on each team.

This method is therefore not risk free but has a much lower riskthan Method 1 No Lay.

This is my preferred method because:

Still Fast - It is quick to place 5 x lay bets on each team when using the OddsMonkey Acca Matcher.

Still Profitable - You will pay on average only 80p commission, whilst making up to £5.40 profitper £25 accumulator.

Much Lower Risk - The most you can lose is usually around £10, versus £25 with Method 1 No Lay.

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Expected Profit Per Acca

Your expected profit is the same as Method 1 No Lay, except for now we deduct the commission from the lay bets.

You are placing 5 x £25 lay bets and on average just over 1 x £25 lay bet will win (each £25 lay bet that wins has a 50p commission on Smarkets or £1.25 on Betfair). Therefore, on average you will pay around 80p commission per acca. This gives us the below expected profit:

Average back odds of 1.2 = £5.40expected profitAverage back odds of 1.3 = £4.50expected profit
Average back odds of 1.4 = £3.00 expected profit
Average back odds of 1.5 = £1.30expected profit

* If all teams win, then you will win £35 (if your teams average 1.2 odds) up to £165 (if your teams average 1.5 odds). The issue with higher odds is that whilst you win more when your acca does win, you are much less likely to win.

For the exchange outcomes, we are placing 5 x £25 lay bets.

For the purposes of explaining this, let's use an example of a £25 acca where all 5 teams have 1.3 back odds and 1.32 lay odds. This means each £25 lay bet has a £8 liability.

If a team in our accumulator wins, we lose our £8 liability.If a team in our accumulator loses, we win the £25 lay stake (less 50p commission on Smarkets or £1.25 on Betfair).

As you can see from the above, for every additional team that loses (or draw), rather than paying out a £8 liability, instead we win £24.50. This means the more of our teams that lose (or draw), the more we make in the exchange!

Total Outcomes and Likelihood

Our total outcome is simple summing the bookmaker and the exchange outcomes together. You can also see in brackets the likelihood of each outcome happening.

Result

Bookmaker

Exchange

Your Profit

All win (24%)

£68

-£40

£28

1 lose (40%)

-£5

-£7.50

-£12.50

2 lose (26%)

-£25

£25

£0

3 lose (9%)

-£25

£57.50

£32.50

4 lose (1%)

-£25

£90

£65

All lose (0.1%)

-£25

£122.50

£97.50

As you can see from the above, we will only lose money if 1 team loses which will happen around 40% of the time.

Overall, by taking the profit/loss of each outcome and multiplying them by the % likelihood, we reach our expected profit figure. This will be up to £5.40 expected profitper £25 acca, as explained above.

FAQ: How Can I Minimise The Potential Loss If 1 Team Loses?

You will only lose money using Method 2 Lay All At Start when 1 team loses. However, by choosing low odds and close matches via the OddsMonkey Acca Matcher, you can keep your potential loss very low by choosing low odds.

Whilst in the example above we used average back odds of 1.3, if you can choose teams closer to 1.2, it will reduce your potential loss:

Average back odds of 1.2 = -£2Average back odds of 1.3 = --£12
Average back odds of 1.4 = -£23
Average back odds of 1.5 = -£38

Based on the above, you should always be looking for average back odds of 1.4 or lower, otherwise your could lose almost as much as using the No Lay Method.

Liability Needed

Each £25 lay bet will require a liability between £5 to £12 depending on the odds. Below is a table showing the liability based on the average back odds:

Average back odds of 1.2 = £28 liability neededAverage back odds of 1.3 = £41 liability needed
Average back odds of 1.4 = £54 liability needed
Average back odds of 1.5 = £67 liability needed

Assuming I choose average back odds of around 1.3 or lower, I would need up to £66 per £25 acca, being £25 to place the bookmaker bet and up to £41 liability on the exchange.

Depending on how many accumulators you are looking to do each weekend/midweek, will determine the total amount of funds you'll need across your bookmakers and your exchange(s). You may lose up to £100 to £150 if you keep getting unlucky and your accumulator teams keep having only 1 team losing, so just be aware this could happen!

Summary Table

If it helps, here is a summary table, putting the potential loss, expected profit and liability needed, side by side in a table:

Average Back Odds

Potential Loss1 team loses

Liability Needed

Expected Profit

1.2

-£2

£28

£5.40

1.3

-£12

£41

£4.50

1.4

-£23

£54

£3.00

1.5

-£38

£67

£1.30

The above table just helps to show the importance of focusing on low odds teams. You have a lower potential loss, lower liability and higher expected profit!

Pros & Cons

Pros:

Fastmethod as just need to place 5 x £25 lay bets (quick to do with the OddsMonkey Acca Matcher)

Good profit to be made as only 80p commission paid on average for your lay bets.

Significantly less risk than Method 1 No Lay

Cons:

Not risk free - you can still lose money on an acca if only 1 team loses.

Overall, this is my favourite method based give the mix of speed, low risk and healthy profit!